The Four AM Pancakes
by january sunshine
Summary: At a sleepover, two boys make breakfast in the middle of the night. .For Vehira.


_Written for Vehira, aka __**Eyes-of-Crimson**__, who is my Hayner cosplayer and very luvvy. Plus, she received Seifer's "Hayner Treatment" of DOOM at her New Years party, so I kinda owe her luv for the accidental Seifer-rapage._

_Basically a true story from her sweet sixteen, I tried using all the quotes my mind could recall but I couldn't think of too many._

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The Four AM Pancakes

_the sweet smell in the middle of the night... er... morning..._

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Seifer was just generally unwell. Not necessarily unwell with an illness, but unwell with... something. Hayner wasn't even sure what it was, but the duo stood in Hayner's previously-empty kitchen at four in the morning, looming over a bowl.

"Seifer...?" Hayner asked quietly.

The taller blond looked up, spoon hovering over the bowl. Hayner had some sort of question, but he wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to ask. Or even what.

Seifer had been gone so long... he had just started school across the country, and he had flown in earlier that afternoon. After the chaos of a "slumber party", as Hayner's mother dubbed it, the two were one of the few awake, and in the kitchen.

And cooking.

Because somehow, they could both cook.

Hayner had learned because he used to cook with his mother and grandmother, and when alone so long, he needed substance.

Seifer learned because he grew bored easily.

And yet there was that ill tension forming over the bowl of unmixed substance in Seifer's hands.

Hayner dismissed his question. "You wanna flip them?"

A smirk formed on Seifer's face as he set the bowl on the counter, stirring it calmly. "Sure thing," he said.

Pancakes.

Hayner couldn't flip them.

And yet somehow, Seifer had the skill of turning the half-cooked item into a round item of edible perfection. Or at least, Seifer thought so. He hadn't made pancakes in a good while, though.

Seifer and Hayner took turns stirring, Hayner taking longer turns than Seifer's quick one-two and pass, but Seifer had taken over near the end to beat out excess mix-bubbles and clumps of unmixed batter, until finally it was decided by both parties that it was mixed enough.

That's when the trouble began.

A clump of batter upon the heated skillet, and neither boy knew when to flip it. Hayner gave it odd, tired looks while Seifer tried to diagnose, in some sort of made-up scientific method until he figured it looked golden enough. A spatula was placed in his hand.

Hayner laughed. "There you go, Queen Spatula," he said with a grin, referring to a character from the board game earlier.

Seifer mumbled but took the spatula anyway, sliding it cautiously under the pancake. He carefully lifted, then, with a flick of his wrist, turned it and dropped it on its opposite end.

"Oh wow... Seifer, that's amazing."

The boy grinned. "Of course it is," he said with a grin.

They both leaned down and watched as the pancake cooked... and rose. Oddly, the pancake seemed to inflate a bit.

Hayner sent another grin to his blond comrade. "That can be the Seifer pancake." Upon Seifer's inquiring glance, Hayner continued with an explanation: "It's inflated, like your ego."

Now, if Seifer weren't so tired, that would have earned the shorter blonde a punch in the face. Or shoulder, or possibly even a molest attack on the counter. But they were at a party, and people were here, and Seifer was questioning why he was even awake. Partially jet-lagged, looming in the allergies known as Hayner's two giant dogs, and the fact that it was four something in the morning... his two-hour nap at midnight just wasn't going to last him all day.

How Hayner was still awake and this non-tired confused him.

Hayner took the spatula and removed the inflated-ego-Seifer pancake from the skillet, setting it on a large plate next to the stove. Seifer poured more batter.

Within fifteen minutes, the boys had quite a few pancakes, all of them named.

Hayner--the boy who tried to inflate his ego but just wasn't big enough. No skills like Seifer.

Roxas--the midget pancake. Hayner said he'd eat it.

Olette--the lopsided pancake. Because she was odd.

Pence--the biggest pancake. 'Nuff said in Seifer's mind.

Rai--the fat yet lopsided pancake.

Fuu--the smaller, though lopsided pancake.

Then that retarded pancake that happened when Hayner tried to flip it and failed miserably, covered in the leftover scraps on the skillet and partially burned. Seifer gave it the nickname of a turtle so Hayner wouldn't feel so bad. After all, turtles were cute.

...even though that pancake was a tad on the dumb side.

"I'm not eating that one," Seifer declared.

Hayner grinned. "I wanna eat my pancake, and the Roxas one."

Seifer shrugged. "Eat whatever you want. I'm taking mine, I'm hungry."

"Inflated eeeego," Hayner sang tauntingly, grinning.

Seifer gave him a slight push before grabbing the plate of pancakes. They moved it over to the giant cake box, which was pink, though the color was ignored as they took the black plates and moved each pancake. After arguing over which pancake was what, they took pictures of each pancake before grabbing a few plates.

"Pancakes, anyone?" Seifer offered.

That was the point where Seifer realized he really was hungry for these.

Wasn't he supposed to be _tired_ at five in the morning?

"Whoa, Seifer, it's five in the morning..." Hayner said with awe as he snatched the syrup.

Bellies full with the minor pancakes, both boys were out by six in the morning, after the sun began to light the sky. They were back to chaos and roaming around the house at eleven, and Seifer paused in his brief Roxas chasing to look at the pink box.

No spare plates?

But only three pancakes had been eaten. He dismissed it then, though a few minutes later, he brought it up again, sniffling as he walked over to Hayner. "Hey, you," he said.

Hayner looked up from where he was rifling through his closet. "What, Seifer?"

Seifer leaned on the doorway and rubbed at his eyes. "What happened to the other pancakes?" he inquired.

The dirty-blond opened his mouth as if he had an answer, but he quickly looked up in confusion. "I dunno... eaten?" he guessed. "By dogs or humans." He chuckled softly.

Seifer grinned as he straightened his beanie. "Probably both," he said with a laugh.

"Yeah..."

With a shrug, Seifer turned and headed back into the living room, sending one glance to the kitchen as he wished those pancakes were still there. "Stupid dogs," he mumbled.

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_...no breakfast food for you. Eat some chips._

**!owari!**

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Vehira didn't want this to end but we couldn't think of how to continue it. After all, the SeiHay stuff at the party kinda just turned into chaos, and... yeah. -cackles- Man, those were good pancakes. I actually wanted to reheat them for breakfast but they were all gone. I didn't ask her at the party, that convo is actually from the night I wrote this. I actually wanted to know where the pancakes went, too...

Guess that's a mystery!

**:Darkness Princess.**


End file.
